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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Fabulous Friday Feature- Bethany Macmanus- Mystery/Suspense Author

Today I welcome mystery/suspense author:

Bethany Macmanus

Enter to win Bethany's book, Murdered Between Stalagmites

Scroll to the end of the post to see how to enter.

I've had a wonderful time getting to know Bethany on FB. We've chatted and shared some amazing stories, some you can read below. We've become good friends. During one of our conversations I asked her to join us and share how God has led her on her writing journey. Here is what she wrote:

Gravitated to Things That Go Bump in the Night

It all began when my mother pulled me out of kindergarten
halfway through the year and started homeschooling me. I'd simply gotten sick
one too many times, and Goodness knows I got in too much trouble for talking to
my little seatmate, Brian. (To this day, I'm too extroverted to spend much time
sitting at my desk, though I love writing so!)

I would get my schoolwork done before lunch and then dive
straight into a stack of library books. My love of the written word grew and
grew with my English-teaching father there to encourage me all the more. I'd
while away the hours penning poetry, mainly about cats, until fourth grade when
my parents put me back into public school.

At the local elementary, I poured over my fiction. It was
around this age I grew especially fond of Nancy Drew mysteries, and have now
begun to collect them as a sentimental remembrance of what started me writing
mystery/suspense.

In the fifth grade Gifted and Talented program, teachers
encouraged the stretching of my imagination. I believe at this time I became
convinced: God wanted me to be an author.

I began my first novel, Lily. It was in the same vein as
Janette Oake, Bodie and Brock Thoene, and Gilbert Morris. At that time there
wasn't a lot to choose from in Christian fiction. Now as I look back on the
plot, I giggle at how little romance did for the plot. Lily was mostly centered
on the mystery of what abuse had happened to the heroine as a child, which she
thought normal. When told to the hero, red flags raised in his mind. By golly,
that hero was going to press and search for the villain who did this to her!

After college, marriage, and an anticlimactic career as an
RN, I had my first child and got back into my writing. It felt so good to be
doing what God had called me to. Once more I began to pen a historical romance;
this time instead of western prairies, the setting was sixteenth century
Vienna, Austria.

Rachelle Gardner gave some VERY good advice for The Prisoner
and the Heretic. She wrote me a long email teaching me where to go to improve
my backstory-heavy beginning, among other heinous problems. But the most
valuable thing she said was, I KNEW HOW TO WRITE! I think without those magic,
blessed words, I may not have picked myself up or brushed myself off, and kept
going.

I discovered that historical romance is NOT my genre.

At around this time, (advised by Brandilynn Collins) I
joined ACFW and learned I should probably begin blogging. My first attempt was
a short story fiction blog, where I would just take a character idea and a plot
twist and run with it. One thousand words later, I would stop typing and read
what I had, edit a bit, and post. My characters from Murdered Between
Stalagmites were born this way. I also realized my true genre was suspense!

One contest finalist experience and one contest winning
experience later, I realized my first publishable novel, Six Solitude Road, was
a “tweener.” (Okay, that was what Chip MacGregor told me...) Though the
Christian worldview was strong in my book, it also had some edgy elements considered
too dark for the CBA (Christian market).

I decided to self publish, and move forward with another
idea for a very Christian romantic suspense. I will hopefully be able to finish
it and pitch it at this year's ACFW conference! Go hybrid writers! :)

Recently, a Facebook friend (raised Buddhist) picked up a copy
of Murdered By Stalagmites. While reading it, she was touched by what the
characters said in such a way, she felt I was someone who knew the Lord and
would be willing to listen to some spiritual questions she had! She gave me a call
and we talked for an hour about Jesus! SO AWESOME!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bethany
lives in Houston with her husband, daughter and son. After practicing as an RN
for five years, Bethany left the nursing field to pursue a fiction writing
passion the Lord planted in her heart when she was a child. And as Nancy Drew
mysteries were her guilty pleasure during those early years, so she naturally
gravitates her pen toward the things that go bump in the night.

She draws many interesting and perplexing
facts from her former career. These experiences come in handy when characters
get themselves into serious scrapes, and also gives a psychological spin to
many of her plots.

She’s allergic to milk, Sulfa drugs, and
people who stop in the middle of intersections while driving.

Six Solitude
Road: Her husband is the prime suspect in the kidnapping of one of her
students.

Now she must
prove him innocent.

One morning,
Kate Marset discovers her seven year old student, Becca, is missing, and all
evidence in her disappearance points to Kate’s husband, Clint. At the Christian
school where Becca disappeared, Kate finds more than one lead the detectives
have overlooked. Armed with a Colt .45 and an incriminating flash drive file,
Kate struggles to prove Clint innocent in this kidnapping. All the while, her
own daughter Janna slips away emotionally. Is something dark at work in the
little girl’s life? Or is it just growing pains? The only way for Kate to find
out is to dig into the layers of sin holding her town, her husband, and her own
house captive.

They thought they were going to be reality show stars.What they got was murder.

When Jacob
Mercer is trapped with seven strangers in a series of caves, he determines to
seek out the mysterious predator responsible for the hoax which lured them
there. Then, one of the inhabitants is murdered the first night, and Jacob has
to play detective. Will he uncover the killer of Siren Song Caves? Or will the
killer find a way out before anybody else?

To enter the contest for

Bethany Macmanus's book: "Murdered Between Stalagmites":

leave a comment (and email address)

AND become a follower of this site,OR sign up to receive posts by emailif you aren't already.

International Readers are also invited to enter to win a copy for your Kindle!!US residents may choose between a Kindle copy or paper copy.

10 comments:

As a librarian, I was not permitted to openly talk about my Christian beliefs. However~~if a patron confided in me about a problem or an illness, I quietly told them that I would pray for them. More than once, I had further opportunity to witness to them. It was sometimes a silent witness but through my concern and caring, I was able to show them God's love.

Wow! I'm not sure I have the nerve to read this - not the murder part, the cave part! Caves are scary places!

I love the idea of blog with short stories. So glad you shared on Mary's blog. Mary, so thankful for your blog and faithfulness.

I was able to share my faith in Christ in a most unexpected situation. I would be happy to share privately, but I don't want to cause any embarrassment for anyone by posting it in a public setting like this. However, I believe in the midst of the circumstance the Holy Spirit impressed on me to love women. Really love them, sharing His grace, mercy, and peace.

Connie, thanks so much for sharing! Silent witnesses are awesome because you are being Jesus' hands and feet.Cindy, you are right, blogging short stories is fun, and a very workable way to make sure you sit your "cheeks in chair" and write.Thanks for inviting me into your corner of cyberspace, Mary. It was an honor to be on your blog!

Great post and glad to get to know more about Bethany's writing "backstory!" I've already read her books so don't enter me, but I'm so pleased to know your "tweener" novel stirred questions in a Buddhist. That's what I want to be writing, too! All the best, ladies!

Hi Heather,So glad you could join us today. Stirring the hearts of readers certainly is primary goal. I imagine Francine Rivers and other authors have had many notes from readers like this. I hope, one day, you, too, will have the privilege to answer stirring questions from a reader. When you do, be sure to share the news with us so we can rejoice with you. :)

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According to new FTC rules I must let you, the reader know, that all views shared on this blog are strictly my own. Books to review are either provided for me by the author, publisher or ones I have purchased and I am under no obligation whatsoever to present anything, but my true opinion on any product. I receive no monetary compensation for anything written on this blog. Any giveaways on this blog are provided by the author/ publisher and I am not responsible for any views they express in their work or on this site. Giveaways are void were prohibited and chances of winning are based on the number of applicants. A random winner is drawn when a book is given away.